May 2, 2013 6:45pm EDTMay 2, 2013 6:35pm EDTThe NCAA suspended the rule that would have lifted limits on the amount phone calls and texts schools could send to prospective athletes, the NCAA said Thursday.

Staff report

Published on May. 2, 2013

May. 2, 2013

The NCAA suspended the rule that would have lifted limits on the amount phone calls and texts schools could send to prospective athletes, the NCAA said Thursday.

The move comes after the Division I Board of Directors received more than 75 override requests from January, when the measure was passed in an effort to streamline the NCAA rulebook. The rationale was that if the NCAA didn’t have to investigate improper phone calls, which could be trivial offenses, it could spend more time on investigating real rule-breakers.

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However, the uproar in the college football community was immediate, because without restrictions on communications, schools could bombard athletes nonstop, which could turn off athletes, and coaches may have felt obligated to send additional texts to avoid being beaten to recruits by rival schools.

The rule, however, does not affect the same rules now in effect in men’s and women’s college basketball, which does allow for unlimited texts and phone calls.

“We are supportive of moving as aggressively as possible while still studying the issues with due diligence,” said Board chair Nathan Hatch, president at Wake Forest University. “It’s important to make sure all the pieces of the recruiting model work together to make the most effective change in the culture.”

But with college football recruiting being much more cutthroat than college hoops, it is unsurprising to see this rule be suspended.